The present invention concerns a process for configuring a service that is to be provided for a subscriber by a telecommunication network, a barcode tagger for same, a configuration module for same, a configuration device for same, a data entry module for same, as well as a data entry device for same.
If a subscriber wishes to use a new telecommunications service, for example in relation to the provision of a new terminal, he has to book the service with a service provider, in a separate process. For example, typical scenarios are as follows:
A customer purchases a new telephone in a retail outlet, but does not yet have any subscriber line to allow the telephone to be used on a telecommunication network. Following the purchase, the customer, as a new subscriber to the telecommunication network, then has to register with a service provider. This not only involves some expense, but is also annoying to the new subscriber because he usually has to wait a few days until a subscriber line is connected for him.
In another example, the customer purchases an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) telephone or an ISDN adapter for connecting a personal computer to an ISDN telecommunication network, but has only an analogue subscriber line. The customer can use his new terminals as a ISDN subscriber only after a separate request to switch he analogue subscriber line to ISDN.
Even if a subscriber just wants to book a new service for an existing subscriber line, for example callback on busy, he has to tediously arrange this by means of a written or verbal request to the service provider for his subscriber line.
The known process is laborious and prone to errors, both for the service provider, as well as for the operator of the subscriber line, since he always has to enter the details of the (new) subscriber in a configuration system of the telecommunication network, for example via an input interface, a service management system of a so-called telecommunications management network (TMN) and/or at an operator console of a switching center which attends the subscriber""s line.
The object of the present invention is therefore to configure in a simple and reliable manner a service that is to be provided for a subscriber by a telecommunication network.
This object is achieved by a process for configuring a service to which a barcode is assigned and which is to be provided by a telecommunication network, the barcode is read by a data entry device of a barcode tagger, the data entry device of a configuration device of the telecommunication network transmits barcode data determined from the barcode and the configuration device configures the service for the subscriber by means of the barcode data.
The object is further achieved by a novel barcode tagger, a novel configuration module a novel configuration device, a novel data entry module, as well as a novel data entry device.
The invention is based on the idea that an unambiguous barcode that is read in at a retail outlet via a data entry device, in particular a point-of-sale scanner equipped according to the invention, is assigned to the service that is to be provided for a subscriber by a telecommunication network. The barcode can, for example, be attached to a terminal that is being purchased at the retail outlet. From the barcode the data entry device determines barcode data which it then transmits to a configuration device of the telecommunication network, for example to a control center of a telecommunications management network (TMN). This configuration device checks the barcode data, determines configuration data and, using the configuration data, configures the facilities of the telecommunication network involved in the service that is to be provided, for example switching centers, so-called service control points (SCP) for controlling service functions of an intelligent network (IN), access servers for the Internet, and the like.
The entire sales and configuration process is handled very quickly, conveniently and reliably since the entire active chain from the reading of the barcode to the configuration of the service takes place automatically without any operator intervention. The service is immediately available to the subscriber.
Further advantages of the invention are revealed in the dependent claims and in the description.
In a variant of the invention, an accounting device, for example a credit card accounting device, which receives the barcode data from the data entry device and determines an account sum, is assigned to the data entry device. Usefully, the accounting device acknowledges successful debiting of the account sum from an account of the subscriber to the data entry device and/or the telecommunication network, so that the service is configured for the subscriber only on completion of the payment transaction.
Advantageously, the accounting device, the data entry device or the configuration device transmits the barcode data or call charge configuration data determined from them, which contain the subscriber""s bank account number, for example, to a call charge billing computer of the telecommunication network, so that the running costs of the service recently set up can be immediately charged by the telecommunication network. Due to this type of close coupling of the call charge billing units of the telecommunication network, that is to say the call charge billing computer and the configuration device on the one hand, with the sales devices, that is to say the data entry device and the accounting device on the other hand, special tariffs can be conveniently billed in conjunction with a new terminal provided with a barcode according to the invention. For example, special conditions for the use of the service can be arranged with the subscriber on purchasing a predetermined type of terminal as well as the service assigned to this terminal, or on the purchase of a service via a predetermined retail outlet.
The newly set-up service can be activated directly by the data entry device, or only after the subscriber has sent a relevant release code to the telecommunication network. For example, to do this, the subscriber sends a secret number from his terminal that is connected to the telecommunication network, using the DTMF (Dial Tone Multi Frequency) method.
In addition to the standardised recording of barcode data of a service via a barcode assigned to the latter, individual subscriber data specific to the respective subscriber, for example a directory number and/or a subscriber account number, can also be registered via the data entry device and transmitted to the configuration device. The subscriber data can be entered in the data entry device via a keyboard or preferably via a voice recognition system, for example.